Christmas

Just love the impact of these words...

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Praise Jesus for coming here to save us!

Baby!

Yup! That's right! We're having a baby!

Dreaming big

A couple of summers ago, John (a great friend of mine) and I embarked on an 8 week road trip. Our destinations were various CIY conferences across the country at which we would represent the National Association of Christian Campus Ministries (now, the ACM). Our goal was to make high school students aware of the fact that they could be Christians on their "secular" campus.

Perhaps one of our most startling discoveries for us was that while students were interested, their youth leaders were nearly oblivious to campus ministries. We had several leaders approach us and say they didn't know such things even existed on secular campuses.

This is tragic. Tragic and frightening.

Consider: An overwhelming majority of high school students in youth groups will NOT be attending Bible college.

As a new campus minister, one thing of which I am becoming increasingly aware is that college students have extremely specific needs. This is why Todd and Gretchen started CSF at UIS & LLCC and why my wife and I are working alongside them now. One of our main purposes is to guide students into a deeper relationship with God as they go through some extreme life changes. It requires intense amounts of time, attention and prayer.

Unfortunately, I'm repeatedly reminded that many high school students are not even exposed to campus ministries, and, for those who are, it is little more than advice given in passing.

What if this changed?
What if every high school student in Springfield planning on attending secular college was aware that campus ministry existed?
What if they were not only exposed to campus ministry, but had experienced it ahead of time?

How many more would transition well from H.S. to college and from college to full time lay service in a church community?
How many more believers would exist in the workplace?
How many more over-seas missionaries would Christ raise up? How many more pastors, teachers, etc?

This isn't meant to be an accusatory shout. It's meant to be the start of a brainstorming session among believers in Springfield interested in H.S. believers not dropping off the map once they hit the university. I want to dream big about this topic today. Pray with me about this...

thanks
-dave

Psalm 131

This semester my friend Emily and I have been doing a Beth Moore study on the Psalms of Ascent. As part of this study we have be rewriting Psalms 120-134 as personal prayers to Jesus. This has act has really been impacting my spiritual life this semester as I get a chance to be both creative and reflective...things I often don't allow myself the time to be. Here is my psalm 131:

Psalm 131
LORD humble my heart, let no ounce of pride find a home there.
Purify my glances and let my eyes never be to good for those around me.
LORD I do not want to be involved in things to great for my mind.
I want to rest quietly in your embrace like a small child in its mothers arms.
Forever and ever is how long I want to put my hope in You.
Please keep my heart aligned with You.

Back to School

This past Tuesday, September 1 marked a new period in the our lives. We are going back to school!! (All I want to do when I think that is say it in an Adam Sandler voice). David and I are taking classes at Lincoln Christian Seminary...which I am not sure if that is what it is called anymore with their big name change to Lincoln Christian University. We are really excited to be sharpened and to grow in intimacy with our Lord as we learn more about Him and the story of his people. I would say we also are a little intimidated by this whole taking classes again thing but we know it is where we are supposed to be for this season of our lives.

Just for Gretchen we took some back to school photos on Tuesday morning :)

...and we're back!

Our life the last month or so:
July 12-30 Nairobi, Kenya
July 31: Laundry, Laundry, more laundry and printing pictures. Sleep, too.
August 1-5: National Student Conference with amazing college students.
August 6: Morning hospital visit. Evening 3.5 hour trip to Sycamore. Both totally worth it!
August 7-9: Camping w/ the grandparents out at Lake Sangchris. Sweet rest and Nana's delicious cooking for 3 days!!
August 10: Linds @ work. I spent the day unpacking our suitcases from three different trips! wow!
August 11-present: A slow return to "normalcy"

It has been a crazy month. We've been so blessed though to see God work in some ridiculous ways every single day. We'd love to share the stories and hear yours too! Just shoot us an email or give us a call!

Thanks so much to all of you have have been so persistent in prayer for us. We could not have made it past July 12 w/o you!

-David & Lindsey